


Darcy Stark and the Hydra AU

by SonglordsBug



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Awesome Darcy Lewis, Darcy Lewis is Not Tony Stark's Daughter, Darcy Stark, Darcyland (Marvel), Gen, Hydra (Marvel), Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-09-13 03:28:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 11,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16884771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonglordsBug/pseuds/SonglordsBug
Summary: What happens when 11 year old Elizabeth Darcy Stark is in the car when the Winter Soldier causes the accident that kills Howard and Maria Stark? Considered payment for the assassination, she has to survive in Hydra Labs until she can escape. And once she manages that she has to decide who she wants to be as a person and what kind of life she wants to live... and whether she ever wants to get back in touch with the family she was taken from.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Darcy Stark](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16884060) by [SonglordsBug](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonglordsBug/pseuds/SonglordsBug). 



> Crossposting from stumblr. Started out as a what if and developed into the first fic I ever finished.

Elizabeth Darcy Stark is in the car when the Winter Soldier causes the accident that killed Howard and Maria Stark.

Maria dies on impact. Howard does not, but is disoriented and unable to get out of the vehicle. Darcy, in the backseat is shaken and afraid, but mostly unharmed.

When the Winter Soldier walks up to the car Howard gasps “Barnes? Oh, God.”

The Soldier lifts a gun and aims at Howard who says “Wait!”

The Soldier pauses, expressionless.

“Do me if you have to, but please, keep my girl safe.”

The Soldier stares at him blankly for a long moment and then pulls the trigger.

Then he moves towards the back of the car and tears the door open. Darcy gasps and shrinks back but he reaches in and drags her out. He drops her out of his way and proceeds to arrange the car so that he can push it off the road and watch it explode. Then he grabs Darcy and leaves.

He takes her to the safe room that Hydra based this op out of. She ends up tucked into a corner, scared and confused. None of the Hydra agents comment on her presence, but when one of them smirks and gets up and heads toward her corner, the Winter Soldier steps into his path and stares at him. The Hydra agent backs down.

The Soldier settles against the wall near Darcy. As the agents focus on something across the room, he looks down at her.

She looks back up at him, tears brimming in her eyes, and whispers “I’m scared.”

He nods quietly and finally speaks “You should be.”

She gasps and looks away as her eyes brim over.

Later they move to a Hydra base. Darcy is put into a lab with a cot in the corner. She is kept in the lab and techs come in and out working on various projects. They force her to help sometimes and the rest of the time she is ignored. She is allowed to explore a little as long as she does not wander too far. The Soldier comes to the lab occasionally and stares at her.

On one of those occasions Darcy hears footsteps go past the lab doors. When she peers out at the passersby she gasps and her face brightens. The Winter Soldier frowns as she slips out the door and follows.

She runs after the men, who enter a conference room, and bursts into the room crying out “Obie!”

She rushes towards the man who smiles paternally, puts a hand on her shoulder, and greets her with “Hello Elizabeth.”

Then he turns to the Hydra leaders in the room and says “She’ll do nicely for what you need. She has the family talents and she’s young enough to be steered towards whatever specialty you like.”

The Hydrans nod thoughtfully and Stane asks impatiently “Then we’re agreed? The girl is adequate payment for the removal of Stark and his wife?”

In the pause that follows Stane’s question Darcy looks up at him in shock.

Then one of the Hydra leaders nods and says “Agreed. Paid in full.”

Stane smiles, pleased, then turns and pats Darcy on the head and tells her “Be good for them Elizabeth, make it worth it.”

Then he turns and leaves.

Darcy’s face crumples and she throws herself after him crying “Obie! No!”

He doesn’t look back.

Several of the Hydra agents in the room scowl at her and are reaching for their weapons when the Winter Soldier steps in and grabs her. He picks her up as her legs give out and carries her out of the room as she sobs “No! No! Obie please! Don’t!”

He takes her back to the lab and sets her on the cot. Then he turns to the lab technicians and growls “Out!”

They stare at him in shock, but his glare quickly convinces them and they leave. He shuts the door behind them and dims the lights and then settles onto a bench near the cot while Darcy sobs herself into an exhausted stupor.


	2. Chapter 2

Darcy is eleven when Obie gives her to Hydra as payment for the murder of her parents.

When she watched a man kill the woman who let Darcy into her house and home even though Darcy represented everything wrong with her marriage. When she watched her father beg not for himself but for her and show for the first time how much he cared. When she watched her father be shot in the head. When she watched her beloved uncle give her away and smile smugly.

Darcy is eleven and scared.

He says she should be and she’s not stupid, she knows there are words for what she feels, words like Stockholm, but she can’t help it. She’s scared and he is the only one who is gentle to her. He looks at her where others glare or inspect or dismiss. He listens to her babble, or at least does not tell her to be quiet with a cuff to her ear. He has held her, cradled her in his arms while she wept, carried her to her cot, and tucked her under the blankets. Sometimes he even speaks to her, instead of just snapping commands and instructions and chastisements at her.

They call him the Winter Soldier, the Asset, the Weapon, but she refuses to do so because they call her the Girl, the Stark, the Brain, and she won’t, won’t dehumanize him or herself. So she calls herself Darcy, says it out loud when it feels like she might forget, and in her head she calls him James. She’s not stupid, she listened to Aunt Peggy’s stories and she looked at all the pictures. She knows who He is and she is going to call him James.

Darcy is eleven and she doesn’t want to die, so when they tell her to make weapons, she does.

She crafts guns and bombs and other worse things and they all work exactly as she was ordered to make them work. But they all also have some sort of weakness. Nothing obvious. Nothing that can be seen by the Hydra agents and technicians who examine them. But if someone were to try to stop her weapons, they could find something that would work. It’s a message of a sort to two boys who might just examine weapons to find out how they work, who might just see the flaws and recognize them and realize who built them. She doesn’t know that it’s too late, that in their grief they fought and that it will be years before they find their way back to each other, older and wiser. She doesn’t want to die, but she has the same iron in her spine as the man who looked at what the weapons he built were being used for and said no more and the man who went up against someone who called himself a god with nothing but an experimental gun because the so called god needed to be stopped.

Darcy is eleven when she dies and her brothers attend her funeral.


	3. Chapter 3

At first the Hydra leaders are concerned by the Asset’s interest in the Girl. While it is not required to remain in its quarters when out of cryo, this is mostly due to the fact that it has never left them without orders before. But now it often appears in the Girl’s lab and watches. There is discussion about the mind-wipes and the possible need for either a full mental overhaul or a focused wipe to remove this new fascination.

Then they notice that the Asset is more docile when the Girl is near. While she hasn’t yet been allowed near the arm, she has been on the fringes of work done on the Asset. And every time she has made an appearance Hydra has not lost agents to the Asset. After this observation they decide to make use of the fascination instead of removing it.

The Girl is assigned to all work involving the Asset. She crafts weapons and armor for it. She improves the cryo-tank. She is first shown how the arm functions and how to provide the needed upkeep. Then she begins to improve it.

Within two years of her introduction to the arm she designs a completely new and improved model to replace the old. They require several adjustments before she is allowed to build it. She is required to incorporate several traps and controlling devices and she is forced to modify her design so that anything more than simple repairs requires more than two hands.

After the arm is replaced the Girl is often left alone to work on the Asset. She has proven her cooperation and it always follows orders. Since she is the only one that it will not attack when disoriented and in pain, it is simply common sense to not risk any other technicians for repairs the Girl can handle on her own.

They are of course observed, there are several cameras in the lab. If the agents in charge of keeping an eye on the lab mute the cameras, well, the girl never shuts up and never says anything of use.

Hydra is pleased by their gain of the Girl. She produces weapons as Stane had promised and she provides the unlooked for bonus of managing the Asset.


	4. Chapter 4

One day, while Darcy is working on a weaponized laser demanded by Hydra, James picks up a small object off the shelf she keeps her own projects, small harmless items that she can fiddle with while working out the next step for whatever weapon she’s currently designing.

“What’s this one do?” He asks.

She glances over to where he’s holding up what looks like a USB and says “It’s like a USB, a storage device, but it hold’s a lot more than any common USBs.” It’s soothing to work on, just quiet fiddly circuitry and lots of numbers in the coding, she likes numbers.

He nods thoughtfully and asks “Can it hold all your project data?”

She looks up again, frowning this time, and replies “Yeah, it should be able to. It would be pretty full, but yeah.”

“You should.” He tells her. She looks up for a third time, only this time he’s looking at her.

There’s something about the look he’s giving her that causes her reply slowly “That’s… maybe not a bad idea. It can’t hurt to have a back up.” He nods contentedly and brings the USB over to her.

“Now? Really?” She asks, rolling her eyes.

But when he just looks at her she takes it and starts filling it with all the data she’s collected over the last eight years. When she finishes, he carefully tucks in the canvas wrap she keeps the tools she uses on his arm.

A few months later James wanders into the lab and over to her shelf.

Without looking up she calls out “Aren’t you supposed to be going on a mission?”

He answers “Not leaving for half an hour.” He comes over to her and holds out another device asking “Remind me what this one does?”

She looks at it and huffs and says “I’ve told you before, if you press the button the security cameras will loop for 15 minutes. But the range only covers in the lab and the exit is too far away anyway.”

He nods thougtfully, looking unsurprised, and presses the button.

She squawks at him “What are you-!”

He settles on the bench and says “Open the arm and do something that’ll make it stop working in a couple hours, something that they’ll need you to fix.”

She sputters at him for a moment before turning wide eyes to the little device and then lunging for her tools. In eight minutes she manages to open his arm up, fiddle around and close it again.

“Okay, that should do what you want, but I have no idea why you wanted that.”

He smiles faintly and only says “Make sure you have all your tools handy.”

They sit in silence for a few minutes until the device beeps faintly. Her flick at it and then towards the cameras which should be functioning properly again.

He breaks the silence with “Gotta go on the mission now.” and leaves.

Darcy putters around her lab for the next two hours. She loses focus with the weapon she’s creating and starts fiddling with the arm tools, making sure they’re whole and clean.

Then a Hydra agent steps into the room and barks “Get whatever you need to work on the arm, it’s malfunctioned.”

She quickly wraps up her tools and gets up saying “I’ll need another tech, I can’t work on it alone.”

The agent nods, gestures for her to follow, and walks out of the lab. He stops near another lab and orders a tech to come with them. He leads them out of the facility to a car and drives them to where the current mission is being launched. They step into barely disguised chaos and are told to make the arm work.

Darcy steps over to James and meets his eyes. He nods at her and then gestures her around behind him. As soon as she is somewhat sheltered he launches into action. She cringes and hides in the corner and waits. A few minutes later he’s back.

She looks up at him and wrinkles her nose at the blood on him but he smiles and holds out his hand saying “Come on Doll, let’s get outta here.”


	5. Chapter 5

Being away from Hydra is terrifying. Darcy’s spent so much time inside, surrounded by walls, seeing only the same handful of agents and lab techs, that the first time she has time to look around (which isn’t for three or so days), she has to sit down and take some very deep breaths. Beyond the simple (or not so simple) changes in environment, there’s also the terror that Hydra will come after them and find them.

James isn’t much help. While he’s more able to handle different places since he was sent on assignment all over the place, he has his own difficulties remembering how to be a person, not a weapon. But he does teach her how to run and hide, how to cover their tracks and blend in.

Once she gets past the first terror, Darcy finds all kinds of things to explore and enjoy.

The internet is fascinating. Not that she hadn’t had some access already, but there had been so many controls and locks that she hadn’t been able to explore. Now it seems like the world is at her fingertips, anything she wants to see, she can. She quickly learns to avoid the sites that talk about celebrities. It seems like the headline for every site is Tony Stark’s latest fiasco, and hovering in the background of every picture is Obadiah Stane.

Three and a half years after they escape she will finally bring herself to look up the articles on Howard, Maria, and Elizabeth Stark’s death. She spends fifteen minutes meeting the eyes of Elizabeth’s obituary picture before passing the next several hours researching what had happened to the remaining members of the Stark family.

She ends up on a page discussing the falling out of the Stark brothers and Phillip Stark’s disappearance from the public eye. The longer she stares at it, the more pinched her face gets until she suddenly slams the laptop closed and as James’ head snaps up she storms outside and doesn’t return for several hours.

They also travel. They stay inside the US, crossing borders could call up too many red flags, and if Hydra doesn’t know where they are, they don’t want to announce it. But they travel all over the country. They see the golden gate bridge and the great lakes. New Orleans is fun, Florida has too many mosquitos, New Mexico is the first place they stay for more than a couple of days, and Darcy adores the food. They even see the Grand Canyon, when they get there James stands there silently for several minutes, grief and regret on his face. By unspoken agreement they stay away from New York.

The first night Darcy turns on the TV, the channel is playing Star Trek. She doesn’t even realize she’s hitting the change channel button on repeat until James takes it out of her hand. He silently offers her a tissue and she wipes her face. It will be over a year before she logs into a fairly anonymous Netflix account and cues up the first episode of the original series for them to watch.

One of the things they enjoy the most is music. They listen to every style they can and find things to enjoy about each of them- country, rock, showtunes. When they find Glee Darcy giggles in delight while James intently watches in bemusement. James smiles when they play the Andrew’s sisters, and when swing music comes on he teaches Darcy how to dance. Certain classic rock bands make Darcy hesitate before jumping up and dancing around the room.

Eventually, James gets Darcy an iPod. She thinks they have a lot of promise, but that they take up way too much room inside and ends up taking it apart and rebuilding it.

They even start discussing Darcy going to college, and how to create the records she will need. They debate possible courses of study and agree that she probably cannot take most science courses without possibly alerting Hydra.

Then one day Hydra shows up. They are almost cornered and James turns to Darcy and says

“Go. Get outta here.”

“What!” Darcy hisses.

“Go. I’ll tell em you’re dead.” He tells her.

She sputters at him.

“We’re not both gonna get out of this, but I might be able to get you out.”

She gapes.

He smiles gently, presses a kiss to her forehead and says

“It’s the last thing your Dad asked me. Lemme make this right, for you. I got you into this, I’m getting you out.”

Darcy’s mouth trembled, but she hugged him tightly, and ran.


	6. Chapter 6

Darcy ran for three years.

She used everything she’d learned from James to cover her trail and she ran. She finally ended up at Culver with the name Darcy Lewis. She and James had already laid the groundwork for the identity and discussed how she would have to act at a school. She knew to avoid maths and sciences, since it was doubtful that she could hide her skill at them.

She explored instead.

English was annoying, she liked the books, but the symbolism seemed ridiculous to her. Art was impressive but she quickly decided she did not have the correct skills. History and anthropology turned out to be fascinating. There was something about the connections between the past and the present that resonated with her.

Those classes led her into political science classes, which combined some of the historical elements that she enjoyed with the surprisingly familiar politics. She hadn’t realized that she still remembered politics. She spent five years working her way around to most of a degree in poly-sci before a counselor told her that she had to take some science credits in order to graduate.

Darcy considered her options carefully. Classes were not an option, she knew too much about all of the intro classes to pass as a non-science person. She turned her attention to internships, and found Dr. Jane Foster, an astrophysicist researching Einstein-Rosen bridges.

Darcy decided that since she knew very little about stars, and hadn’t actually heard of an Einstein-Rosen bridge, she could probably manage not to come off as too smart. She applied, and thanks to some careful hacking, was the only applicant. Dr. Foster accepted her and they were off to a tiny little town in New Mexico.


	7. Chapter 7

New Mexico with Jane was awesome. The food was even better than Darcy remembered. She made a game out of finding ways to get Jane out of the lab to eat it. Darcy’d spent enough time in labs with bad food to be unwilling to sacrifice a good meal for more lab time. Besides, watching Jane get confused about how Darcy had gotten her out of the lab again was so much fun.

And astrophysics was fascinating. All of the numbers and calculations and equations appealed to the girl who’s earliest memories involved designing an AI. Some days the only way Darcy could keep herself from doing Jane’s math faster and better than Jane was doing it was to take apart her iPod to add to it or to just reprogram it again.

This was easy enough to do when it was just Darcy and Jane, but it got harder once Eric arrived. He was not quite as fanatically immersed in the science, and he actually paid attention to the world around him on the ground.

Still, things were going swimmingly until the night Jane made Darcy hit a man with a car. The levels of interesting and hotness that he provided did not, in Darcy’s opinion, make up for the fact that Shield showed up to investigate.

Her first reaction was panic, because catching Shield’s attention would be bad since she was trying to fly under the radar. Her panic disappeared into blank shock when she saw the agent in charge.

It had been more than twenty years all told,  but she still recognized him. How could she not? This ‘Son of Coul’ had Pip’s eyes and bland smile and harmless sounding voice, though the receding hairline was new. What hurt though, was the way his eyes skimmed over her without recognition.

After Shield departed with all of their equipment, Darcy focused all of her mixed emotions on concern over her iPod. If anyone turned it on and tried to use it, they would see right away that it wasn’t really an iPod anymore. And they would definitely want to know about the person who had modified it. Besides, worrying over her iPod was easier than remembering the way Pip had looked through her like she was an inconvenient stranger.


	8. Chapter 8

After Thor left, life continued. They were on Shield’s radar now, but since they viewed Darcy as a harmless intern, she had relaxed. Shield funded them for a while, moving them around every so often. The move to Norway was more sudden than usual, and Darcy wondered about it until someone turned on the TV.

She and Jane ended up sitting in front of it watching with growing worry. Jane was murmuring about Thor being back, but Darcy’s eyes were fixed on the red and gold armor flying around. She stopped breathing when it went through the portal with the bomb, and then found herself holding back tears when he got up and showed that he was alright.

A day or two later she overheard a couple of the Shield agents assigned to guard them talking about Coulson being dead. She ended up hiding in a bathroom for half an hour, trying to control her tears. It had hurt when Pip had looked through her and not recognized her, but she’d quietly hoped that someday she’d be able to tell him. That hope was gone as she tried to imagine a world where he wasn’t alive.

Thor left again, without calling or visiting Jane.

Things were quiet until Christmas, when someone blew Tony Stark up. Darcy spent the whole period until he showed back up alive, trying to hide fear and panic. She’d already lost one of them and she didn’t want to lose another. She told herself that if she ever got a chance, she’d find a way to tell Tony.

Then Shield withdrew their funding. Soon they ended up in England, living with Jane’s mother. Then Jane disappeared, then she and Thor reappeared, then they both disappeared, then murderous space elves happened, and Darcy just did her best to subtly straighten out poor bananaballs Erik’s math so that they could save the world.

When that was over, Thor was staying and Shield cleaned up the mess. Darcy wondered absently who got stuck with clean up duty, but was too busy being relieved that they were alive to worry about it.

Everything settled again for a time until Captain America took on Shield, which was actually Hydra. Darcy didn’t know which part scared her more: that Shield and therefore Hydra had records of Darcy Lewis, that Hydra was out in the open and might act more boldly, or that there was a metal-armed and masked assassin killing people. She decided that until she knew how much power Hydra currently had, she wasn’t going to bring any more attention to Darcy Lewis.

Thor grew grim-faced and made a trip to New York. He returned to help them pack, informing them that Tony Stark had offered shelter to all of them. They moved, and Tinker showed up when they arrived, immediately starting to babble

“Foster! Good to have you! Fascinated by your work. I’ve got a lab all set up for you and uh… Right! The intern! Lewis? Poli-sci? Don’t know what you’re doing with astrophysics, but whatever! Come see the lab!”

He barely glanced at them before guiding them out of the residential areas on Thor’s floor and to the lab. Once there he said

“All right! You should have everything you need! If you don’t, ask Jarvis. Jarvis say ‘hello’.”

“Good afternoon, Doctor Foster, Miss Lewis.” Said a disembodied British voice.

Jane startled and then said “Oh right. You’re an AI, aren’t you?”

“Indeed, Doctor Foster.” Jarvis replied.

Darcy swallowed hard before saying softly “Hi Jarvis.”


	9. Chapter 9

And that’s that.

Darcy’s voice has matured enough over the years that Jarvis doesn’t recognize it, and Tinker isn’t looking for someone who’s been dead for years. She almost brings herself to mention it a few times, but even though everyone insists that Stark Tower is the safest place from Hydra, she’s still too scared. Instead she quietly accustoms herself to first Jane’s lab, and then the other labs on the floor.

Doctor Banner ‘please call me Bruce’, is quiet and kind and it doesn’t take Darcy long to add him to the people she makes sure eat and sleep. Besides, the more time she spends visiting his lab, the more she’s able to learn about Gamma radiation, and it’s fascinating.

It takes her a week and a half to find the courage to start visiting Tinker’s lab. Even though a lot of the equipment has changed, it feels incredibly familiar, and the music he plays constantly makes her smile and want to cry in equal measure. She has trouble remembering to call him Tony, and almost slips and calls him Tinker a few times. When she starts bringing him food, Pepper Potts comes and finds her to say thank you.

She runs into Clint Barton after a couple of days and he frowns and then brightens in recognition, greeting her with “IPod chick!” She smiles back and says “Arrow dude!” They pick up the friendship they’d started right where it left off, watching bad TV and trying new foods together.

She catches glimpses of Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, and Sam Wilson, who swing by every few weeks to regroup for some secret mission they’re running.

A month or so after they moved in, Tony storms into the common room muttering furiously. When asked what the matter is, he exclaims

“Coulson’s alive! And running a new Shield!”

In the chaos that ensues (Clint goes gray and falls off the counter he was perched on, Pepper gasps and starts asking questions, and Thor starts bellowing) Darcy slips out and makes her way to her rooms.

Once inside she slips to the floor, unable to halt the flood of tears. After a moment Jarvis asks

“Miss Lewis, my sensors are reporting emotional distress, are you alright?”

After a couple tries she manages “I’m alright Jarvis, I’m just…”

“Did you know Agent Coulson?” Jarvis asks.

“We were both in New Mexico when Thor showed up. He… gave me back my iPod.” Darcy answers remembering the way he’d walked up to her after Jane’s equipment was returned.

He’d held out her iPod and said “Miss Lewis, I believe you’ve been looking for this. It should be intact. If it isn’t, contact Shield and we’ll arrange for a replacement.”

She garbled out a thanks and took it back. He started to turn away before stopping and looking at her with a frown. She stared back with wide eyes. Then he shook his head slightly, smiled blandly at her, and walked away.

It was the only time she thought he might have recognized her. After he died, she regretted most that she hadn’t called out to him as he left. Now that it turned out he wasn’t dead, she had no idea what to do.


	10. Chapter 10

One day Darcy walks into Tony’s lab and finds chaos. Every Avenger is there, along with many of their companions. There are also a number of agent-looking people, which, considering Phil is there, suggests New Shield is involved in whatever is going on. Tony is in the middle of the lab arguing with Captain America. Seated next to them is the only person in the room who noticed her entrance.

James meets her eyes, then flicks his eyes towards first Tony and then the metal arm he has rested on the table next to his seat, before meeting her eyes again with a pleading look. Darcy bites her lip, then nods.

She leaves for Jane’s lab, where she picks up the canvas roll of cloth in which she keeps her tools. She returns to Tony’s lab, slips casually through the crowd, and starts spreading out her tools on the table next to the arm.

No one takes note of what she’s doing because everyone is used to her casually arranging things. She picks up a few thin sticks of metal in one hand and a small hammer in the other. Darcy turns to James, waves the hammer at him and raises her eyebrows questioningly.

He nods in response and she brings the hammer down with a careful amount of force that causes the overlapping plates of the arm to flare apart. She quickly inserts the metal sticks before the plates can settle against each other. She sets the hammer down and grabs some more of the thin instruments, twisting and spreading until the arm is open and she can look inside. She is focused enough on her work that she doesn’t notice how silence falls when she starts working.

When she looks inside the arm she growls and then snaps “What did you do to my baby?”

James grins and shrugs, saying “Got in a fight with Captain America.”

“Hmph. Not sure this is salvageable, might just have to build a new one.” She answers with a scowl.

The stunned silence is finally broken when Tony finds his tongue and says “What? Wait! Lewis you built that?”

Darcy tenses as she remembers her audience, but doesn’t look away from the arm as she answers “Yep.”

“No! No! That’s a Hydra thing! That was built by Hydra!” Tony objects, flailing.

She shrugged and said “They told me to build it, so I did.”

Suddenly someone was looming over her.

“You’re Hydra?” asked Captain America angrily.

“Nah.” James interrupted. “She was just a kid when they took her. Hadta do what they told her.”

Steve frowned uncertainly and Darcy smile humorlessly and said “Eleven year old me was pretty sure that if I didn’t do what they told me, they were going to kill me the same as my parents.”

“What did Hydra want with an eleven year old?” Tony asked, bewildered.


	11. Chapter 11

“Weapons.” Darcy answered with another shrug, stunning the onlookers back into silence, before frowning and saying “Alright, I’m gonna try removing some of the ‘goodies’ they’ve added. It’s badly done though, who worked on it, Johnson?”

James thought for a moment and said “I think the skinny one. With the beard. And the nose.”

“Reynolds.” She said, shaking her head in disgust and pulling out a locator chip.

“Most eleven year olds aren’t expected to produce weapons.” Bruce said carefully, daring to break the stunned silence.

“You could call it the family business.” Darcy replied, shrugging again. Then she pulled out a small container and said “Oooh, poison, fun.”

“No. Weapons were MY family business. And I know all the other families.” Tony objected.

Darcy went still, and then finally looked up to meet his eyes, her jaw clenched.

“And you can’t think of a single eleven year old who went missing?” She asked evenly, a hard look on her face.

Tony stared at her, the beginnings of shock crossing his face, and she turned back to the arm.

There was silence for a moment as Darcy removed something sparking from the arm and then Phil said “Miss Lewis. How exactly did Hydra obtain custody of your person?”

“I was payment.” She said flatly, fiddling inside the arm. “A family friend wanted the company. My parents were in the way. He told Hydra that they could have me if they killed my parents. So they killed my parents in front of me and took me away.”

“Pretty sure this is where you mention that I did that part, Doll.” James said softly, looking worriedly at her.

Darcy smiled brittlely and said “What you do when you’re brainwashed doesn’t really count as you doing it James.” When he opened his mouth to object she continued “Or then what I did for them counts too.”

His mouth snapped shut and he scowled at her.

“So what you’re saying is that company politics gave you to Hydra, who had you making weapons?” Bruce asked carefully, a hint of a growl in his voice.

“Yup.” Darcy answered, popping the p.

“I’m guessing Darcy isn’t actually your name.” Clint broke in, trying to sound cheerful.

She shrugged.

“It’s my middle name.”

Tony made a quiet sound.


	12. Chapter 12

Then Darcy twisted something and the arm started beeping.

“Uhh, that’s a… okay I need something to contain an explosion.”

Tony blinked and then lunged across the room to grab something. As he brought something back Darcy said to James

“This is gonna hurt and I need you to stay still.”

“Do what you gotta do, Doll.” James said, tensing.

Darcy reached into the arm with pliers and yanked hard as James groaned and pulled out a blinking object that she dumped into the container Tony provided. He slammed the lid on and they heard a muffled boom. They paused staring at each other breathlessly and Darcy’s mouth started quirking into a smile. Then James breathed in sharply and she turned and said

“Sorry, sorry, here let me just…”

She dropped the pliers and grabbed a different tool and starting manipulating things at the joints of the arm. When she reached the shoulder the arm suddenly went limp and James relaxed with a gasp.

“Did you just almost blow everyone and my lab up?” Tony asked.

“No.” Darcy straightened sharply, but there was a hint of laughter in her eyes. “I just kept Reynolds from blowing us all up.”

“Riiiight.” Tony drawled. They continued to look at each other until Phil approached and interrupted

“Are there likely to be any more problems?”

Darcy flinched, spun back towards the arm and stammered out “N-no. That should be about all, won’t take long to uh, get it off now.”

Phil’s shoulders slumped and Tony turned to glare at him. Darcy fiddled around near the socket until there was a clunk and she caught the arm as it slid out of the shoulder mount.

“There you go James.” She said trying to sound bright and cheerful, but missing the mark. James straightened up in the chair, rolled the empty shoulder, and smiled at her fondly.

“Thanks Darce.”

She nodded and said “Okay, so it looks pretty unsalvageable, but I’ve still got the specs, so it shouldn’t take too long to rebuild…”

She turned towards her tools and started fiddling with them. Phil reached out and stilled  her hands with his and Tony said

“Bit…”

She startled again, and looked up at them with wide, scared eyes.


	13. Chapter 13

“That is… I mean… You are…?” Tony stammered.

Darcy stared at them, and her face filled with exhaustion, fear, and anger.

“So what if I am?” She snarled.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Phil asks quietly, sorrow on his face as he carefully releases her hands.

“What was I supposed to say?” She asks, looking at them. “Here I am, I’m not dead? Or, look at me again, I’m not just some intern? Or how about ‘I’m scared to say anything because if they find out where I am they’ll take me back’?”

She pulls away, taking several steps from them before turning back and running a hand through her hair.

“Maybe I should’ve told you about how the last time I saw Obie I was terrified out of my mind and he patted me on the head and told me to be good! Or should I have told you that I built weapon after weapon for Hydra and into every single one I added a flaw that was screaming to catch your attention! That all I wanted was for my big brothers to come and rescue me!”

The lab is silent. Everyone is staring at the three of them. Tony and Phil are shoulder to shoulder, watching Darcy with horror and heartbreak in their eyes. Darcy is furious, her cheeks are flushed, her eyes are blazing, her body is shaking.

She goes still, her jaw tight as she snaps out “Well, I learned to rescue myself. And I don’t need either of you!”

And then she turned and stormed out of the lab.

There was silence for a long moment after she left before Clint finally broke it, asking “What just happened?”

Phil’s shoulders slumped and he rubbed a hand over his face. Tony bent over the table, pressing a fist to his forehead.

“Phil? Tony?” Clint asked.


	14. Chapter 14

Neither Phil nor Tony answered.

“You’re saying you two really didn’t recognize her?” James asked, doubt and scorn in his voice.

Tony pushed himself up off the table spun towards him, suddenly furious.

“She died! She was eleven and she died! What kind of sick fuck looks at a grown woman and sees a dead eleven year old?” Tony demanded, then he turned away, muttering “Whatever. Jarvis save the scans of the arm to, uh, you know which folder.”

“Of course, sir.” Jarvis answered as Tony strode out of the lab.

As everyone stared after them Clint asked plaintively “Would someone please explain what’s going on?”

“There were three people in the car crash that resulted in Tony Stark inheriting Stark industries.” Phil answered tiredly. “Howard, Maria, and Elizabeth. She was eleven.”

Several people gaped and Clint said “Wait, you think Darcy’s? But… No way!”

James shrugged and said “She was in the car, I was ordered to arrange an accident and make it look like she died too.”

There was a pause as everyone considered this and then Bruce said tentatively “Darcy said older brothers plural.”

Phil nodded and said blandly “Yes, well, the other big news item that year regarding the Stark family was the very public falling out between Anthony and his older brother Phillip, and Phillip’s following disappearance from the public eye. Now, if you’ll excuse me?”

Phil walked out of the lab as Agent Skye muttered “No way!”


	15. Chapter 15

In her dark apartment Darcy is sitting with her back against the wall where her legs had given out with her face tucked into her knees and her arms hugging her shins. She is gasping and shuddering.

Jarvis makes the speaker click sound that is his version of clearing his throat and starts to say “Ms. Lewis-”

“Don’t.” She cuts him off harshly. Jarvis falls silent and she is left alone to shake.

At some point she becomes aware of a presence and peers over to see James settle himself on the floor near her, but not too close. She presses her eyes back into her knees and ignores him for a few minutes. Finally, she takes a shaky breath and looks at him.

He meets her eyes and says gently “Ah Doll, havin’ a hard time, ain'tcha?”

She nods, and then her eyes fill and her face crumples and she shifts towards him. He reacts immediately, reaching out and gathering her into his arms, tucking her face into his chest and making soothing sounds. She sobs and clings and he just holds her, running a reassuring hand up and down her back.

After what feels like hours, her breath settles into hiccupping gasps and she shifts so that she can meet his eyes.

“Everything sucks.” She informs him.

He considers this, then pulls a face and nods and says “Yeah, but less than when Hydra had us. And at least now they’re not chasing us either.”

They sit in silence again until he breaks it to say “Was a little surprised you hadn’t told them.”

“I didn’t know how to. And… I was scared.” Darcy admitted. He hummed softly and squeezed her a little tighter. After a while she said shakily “I just… I don’t know how… I was right there and… neither of them saw me.”

He nodded and said “Seems ridiculous to me, you don’t look that different really. But one of them made a good point.”

She frowned and made an inquiring sound.

He turned his gaze towards the ceiling and said “Jarvis? You got a recording of what he said?”

There was a pause and then Jarvis murmurs “Certainly.”

“She died! She was eleven and she died! What kind of sick fuck looks at a grown woman and sees a dead eleven year old?”

Darcy’s mouth dropped open in surprise and James chuckled softly “Ya gotta admit, if you weren’t her and they thought you were it’d be pretty creepy.”

She nodded reluctantly and then asked “I guess they might have missed me?”

“Course they did, Doll. That much is obvious.” He answered immediately, before adding “Should probably talk to them about it at some point.”

She pulled a face and he snickered.

“Don’t I know it. Been having to do the same with Steve.”

She looks at him and asks curiously “How is that?”

“Hard. Complicated. Good. You know.” He answered, then pulled a face and said “He’s probably fretting and doing something stupid like pacing circles right now. Think this is the longest he’s let me out of his sight since I let him find me.”

She smiled a little, before it faded and she said uncertainly “Maybe you should get back to him?”

Immediately understanding what was going through her head he said gruffly “Not unless you’re coming too, dame.”

She relaxed against him and said shyly “I don’t really know him, he didn’t exactly spend time here.”

“Well what do you say? You want to come get introduced?” He asked. She bit her lip uncertainly and he coaxed  “Come on, you know you wanna come meet the Captain America you heard all the stories about.”

Her mouth curved into a small smile and she said “Okay James.”

He stood up and offered her a hand and said slyly “You know, it’s probably time you started calling me Bucky.”

Her face lit up and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and said “Oh right. And thanks for keeping your brother and Reynolds from blowin’ us all to kingdom come.”

They left the apartment echoing with her giggles.


	16. Chapter 16

Phil left the lab and made his way through the tower to the Bus’s landing pad and up into his office. He bent over with his hands flat on his desk and his shoulders bowed. He stood there in silence, struggling to come to terms with what he’d just learned.

Jarvis broke the silence, speaking from a device on his desk. “Pip, sir, is there anything you require?”

“I’m fine Jarvis. I just need some time.” He answered.

“Very well.” Jarvis replied.

A few minutes later Clint walked in and settled himself in a chair.

“So… Tinker and Bit?”

Phil straightened then and turned to face him, leaning against his desk.

“Yeah.” Phil answered.

“You never mentioned she was dead.” Clint commented.

Phil chuckled humorlessly. “That would have involved accepting that she was dead. I’ve spent decades ignoring that fact.” Phil sighed, then frowned “What are you doing here?”

“Oh don’t get me wrong, I am pissed at you for your playing dead act.” Clint said, anger on his face. “But…” And now his gaze softened. “We can have it out later. S'not like it changes anything on my end. And I figured someone should come check on you.”

Phil stared at him, mouth open slightly in surprise. “I… Clint… Thank you.”

Clint shrugged, mouth curling in an almost smile. “So tell me about your Tinker and Bit.”

“I’m the eldest, and I always looked out for them.” Phil stops, and shakes his head a little, before starting over. “I didn’t always get along with my father. Howard was a difficult man and we all had trouble with him. There were so many times I considered cutting ties and not going back. But that would have meant not seeing them, and that… would have been unacceptable.” Phil smiles, face soft with reminiscence. “They were both so curious about everything.”

Clint snorted and murmured “Like you aren’t.”

Phil tilted his head to acknowledge the point before continuing. “I always wanted to keep them safe and having fun. It was hard sometimes as Stark children to have fun, and there were so many ways to be made to feel unsafe. It always felt like a victory when I could get them smiling and laughing and experimenting.”

“So that’s where you got the protecting thing.” Clint said. Phil looked at him in surprise and Clint snorted. “Phil, anyone who knows you knows that you do what you do because you want to keep people safe, from each other and themselves.” They held each other’s eyes for a breath and the Clint asked “How’d you three end up like this?”

Phil’s face tightened in remembered sorrow as he answered. “When Bit died… It had always been my job to keep them safe and she was dead.” Phil shrugged. “I blamed myself.” Clint shifted and started to open his mouth and Phil raised a hand.

“Rationally, of course a car accident that I wasn’t involved in wasn’t my fault. But my baby sister was dead. Clint, she was only eleven.” Phil looked at Clint with anguish in his eyes and Clint nodded heavily.

“We were mourning. And there was suddenly so much weight on Tinker, as the official heir. And… looking back I can see that Stane was manipulating us and trying to cause a schism. But at the time… we hurt so much and we ended up taking it out on each other. And… I left.”

Clint winced sympathetically and Phil shook his head tiredly.

“I don’t think either of us knew how to fix what we’d broken. We had only just started to reconcile when… well I  messed that up too. And now…”

Clint pushed himself out of his chair and grabbed Phil’s forearm. “Don’t give up too soon. Speaking as someone who was here when he found out you weren’t dead… he was furious yeah, but underneath it all he was relieved. And hey, your Bit’s not dead, so that’s a better chance than you had a couple hours ago.”

Phil met Clint’s eyes and nodded slowly, and then Clint snorted in sudden amusement. “Though I really don’t get the whole Agent Agent thing.”

Phil huffed out a laugh of his own and said “That’s his way of saying that he’s never going to call me Phil. If he’s not comfortable with Pip, it’s going to be Agent.”

“That doesn’t explain his objection to Coulson.” Clint said dryly.

Phil smiled and explained “He called me Coulson until he figured out where I got it and then he decided that I should have just gone with my mother’s name.”

Clint frowned and shook his head dubiously but then smiled and said “Well, if he’s still making digs at your name, things can’t be too bad. And you’re not gonna solve anything by hiding in here. So maybe we should…”

Clint jerks his head towards the door.

Phil smiles a little and nods pushing away from his desk to follow, murmuring quietly “Thank you, Clint.”


	17. Chapter 17

Tony sat on the edge of his bed, staring blankly into space.

Jarvis interrupted the silence to ask “Sir? Tinker?”

Tony startled a little and his eyes focused.

“Yeah J?” He asked.

“I merely wished to ascertain if you were alright.” Jarvis replied.

“Not so much.” Tony answered with a humorless chuckle. “How about you, Jarvis?”

“I find myself rather shocked. This was not something I expected and… I am uncertain what the best course of action is.” Jarvis answered.

“Yeah, welcome to the club, buddy.” Tony said softly, nodding.

“I believe I am… angry, sir.” Jarvis informed him hesitantly.

“That’s a reasonable thing to be feeling.” Tony said, frowning. “How about you keep a diagnostic running and let me know if you think you’re going off the rails.”

“I will sir.” Jarvis replied. “Shall I call Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes?”

Tony blinked, almost smiled, and murmured “Yeah that’s probably a good idea J.”

The sound of a phone ringing played over the speakers until “Rhodes.”

“Rhodey.” Tony said shakily.

“Tony? Tones what’s the matter?” Rhodey asked, Tony’s voice cluing him into the fact that something was wrong.

“I… it’s… Bit.” Tony stammered out.

“What?” Rhodey asked, sounding confused.

“She’s alive.” Tony said helplessly.

“What!?” Rhodey exclaimed.

“She’s alive. She’s been… but I didn’t… and she didn’t…” Tony struggled to speak.

“Woah, woah, woah, slow down Tones. Start from the beginning, okay?” Rhodey requested, voice dropping into a soothing register.

“Cap found Barnes. And brought him here. He needed the arm worked on, you know?” Tony started.

“I know.” Rhodey answered gently.

“So Cap and I were… ah… discussing what to do when suddenly Lewis had the arm open and was working on it.” Tony explained.

“Lewis?” Rhodey asked.

“Foster’s intern? I think you’ve met her, she’s been around for months. Dark hair, loud voice, big-” Tony ended on a strangled sound, looking horrified.

“The one who tazed Thor?” Rhodey asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, she did that.” Tony answered, looking proud.

“I’ve seen her around the tower, but I don’t think we’ve actually spoken.” Rhodey said thoughtfully. “You sayin’ she knows how to work that metal arm?”

“She built it. And she’s Bit.” Tony told him.

“Are you sure it’s her?” Rhodey asked, sounding shocked and doubtful.

“It is. She definitely is. She yelled at us.” Tony confessed quietly.

“Us?” Rhodey asked.

“Pip and I. He’s here with his team.” Tony clarified quietly.

Rhodey sighed. “Look, I’m due some leave…”

“What? Rhodey no! You don’t have to…” Tony started to object.

“And War Machine needs a tune up anyway.” Rhodey continued over his protests. “So I’ll go clear it with my superiors, and then I’m just a short flight away.”

“Well, if War Machine needs a tune up…” Tony drawled, almost sounding like he was back to his normal levels of confidence.

“Besides, I want to see Bit too, I was pretty fond of the kid.” Rhodey snarked back.

They shared a comfortable silence for a breath and then Tony murmured shyly “Thanks Rhodey.”

“No problem Tones.” Rhodey answered warmly. “I gotta go. I’ll let Jarvis know when I need you to come let me in.”


	18. Chapter 18

When Bucky and Darcy enter the common area, there is a pause in people’s conversations that made Darcy hesitate at the entrance. But Bucky calmly guided her over to Steve and says cheerfully

“Steve. Darcy. Darcy. Steve.”

Steve looked at her solemnly and asked “Is that what you want to be called?”

Darcy smiled a little and ducked her head, responding “My friends have always called me Darcy. Only strangers ever called me Elizabeth. And I’ve been just Darcy for a lot longer than I was ever you know…” She trailed off with a shrug.

Steve smiled brightly, held out his hand, and said “Well, then. It’s nice to meet you Darcy.”

Darcy shook his hand and squeaked out “Likewise.”

Bucky snorted and teased “Hero worship, much?”

Darcy glared at him and said “You try meeting Steve Rogers after growing being told stories about him by Peggy Carter!”

Bucky shrugged, looking amused.

Steve blinked, looking a little surprised and asked softly “You knew Peggy?”

Darcy shrugged awkwardly “I… yeah. I mean… she… yeah?”

Steve looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, then smiled softly and said “Here, I don’t think you’ve met Nat or Sam yet.”

He proceeded to start introductions, and once they finished and Darcy looked more comfortable, Jane came over and took hold of her shoulders.

Jane looked firmly into Darcy’s eyes and asked “Are you okay?”

Darcy looked surprised and touched as she answered “Yeah.”

Jane smiled and said “Good.”

Then she pulled Darcy into a fierce hug. Darcy squawked and flailed for a moment before hugging back and muttering

“Jeeze bosslady.”

When they pulled back from the hug, Jane frowned and asked “Did you ‘fix’ my math?”

Darcy cringed a little before saying “Sometimes?”

Jane huffed and scowled at her before opening her mouth. Her words were muffled by Thor’s hand as he said

“What my Jane means to say is that she is thankful to have such a good friend and helper.”

His eyes twinkled and he smiled as he said it.

Darcy grinned back as the others started laughing and said “I know.”


	19. Chapter 19

The group had settled into relaxed conversation by the time Phil and Clint entered the common area. There was a pause as everyone looked over and Phil nodded in greeting. He made eye contact briefly with Darcy before they both looked away uncertainly. His gaze landed on Skye and FitzSimmons clustered in a corner and he frowned and headed towards them, Clint following a half step behind.

“Do I want to know what you’re doing?” Phil asked mildly.

FitzSimmons jumped and Skye spun towards him, eyes wide.

“Nothing! We’re not doing anything!” Skye claimed.

“Absolutely nothing.” “Really.” FitzSimmons chimed in.

Phil frowned, looking at them suspiciously.

“I believe Agent Skye was attempting to hack into my systems, Agent Coulson.” Jarvis supplied.

Heads turned around the room, and Phil scowled and snapped “Skye!”

“He’s an AI!” Skye explained, looking at him pleadingly. “I just wanted to see. His coding must be amazing!”

Phil softened a little as Clint snorted in amusement.

“It’s still an incredibly disrespectful invasion of privacy. The very fact that he is an AI makes hacking him unforgivably rude.” Phil informed her.

Skye’s shoulders hunched and she ducked her head in the face of his disappointment.

Before anyone could say anything, Darcy, who had drifted closer, spoke up. “You know, if Jarvis doesn’t mind, there are some things she could have a look at. Maybe his preferences protocols?”

Phil startled, and looked at her in surprise, before nodding thoughtfully and asking “Jarvis?”

“I do not mind.” Jarvis answered, before bringing up a set of coding on the nearest wall.

Skye and the scientists made excited sounds and turned to look at it. Phil kept his eyes on Darcy’s. She smiled slightly and shrugged a bit. He smiled back and nodded again before turning to answer a question Skye had posed.


	20. Chapter 20

Conversation picked back up. Darcy let Bucky and Steve draw her back into their chat, even as she kept an eye on the discussion with Jarvis. Phil calmly and competently spoke with Jarvis and his agents, while Clint kept a thoughtful eye on him and piped in with comments on occasion.

Tony came in and looked around as he made his way towards the door to the landing platform. His eyes landed on the code Jarvis was showing and he stopped, looked thoughtfully at the group headed by Phil, and said “Huh.”

Then he shook his head and continued to the door. He pulled it open with a cheerful “Come on in, Honeybear! Jarvis’ll get War Machine down to the lab for its tune up.”

Rhodey came in, shaking his head and chuckling.

“Hey Tones. Just so long as I don’t find any mysterious substances inside my armor again.” Rhodey said as he made his way towards the center of the room.

“Umm, no.” Tony objected. “That was a one time only deal. Dummy is a very special bot, but we fixed him… I think.” “If you say so, man.” Rhodey said, looking amused.

Then his eyes landed on Darcy, and his face went a little solemn.

“Hey Bit.” He said, and held out a fist.

Darcy squeaked on a gasp, huffed out an almost laugh, and then shyly pressed her fist to his with a “Hey Rhodey.”

He smiled at her and said “It’s good to see you, you’re looking real good for someone whose funeral I went to.”

Tony gave him a horrified look and hissed “Rhodey, you can’t just-”

He was cut off by Darcy’s giggle.

“Now I remember why you were my favorite.” She gasped out, her face lit up.

Tony stared for a moment, before pulling on fake outrage and snapping “No! He’s mine you can’t just- fine, I’ll steal yours. Hey Barnes, want a new arm?”

Bucky looked carefully between Darcy’s smiling face, Tony’s hopeful face, and Rhodey’s subtle nod and said “The specs are in the lab, and I ain’t missing this party.”

Tony huffed and waved a hand, saying “Jarvis got a scan, it’ll do for starters.”

Bucky shrugged and drawled “Well then, be my guest.”

Tony beamed and commanded “Jarvis pull up folder-” and rattled off a string of numbers.

Darcy frowned and asked “You named a folder ‘weird shit’?”

Phil stepped forward and commented “That’s a bit of an unusual name.”

Tony shrugged as Jarvis projected the contents of the folder and said “It’s full of a bunch of stuff that all have something… never figured out what, but they all have it. From what I saw, the arm does too.”

Tony started flicking through the contents in search of Jarvis’ scans of the arm.

Phil frowned and reached out for several of the items, saying “Wait. There’s something about these…”

“I know. That’s why they’re in this folder. They’re weird.” Tony answered him absently.

“They’re mine.” Darcy’s voice was stunned.

Everyone turned to look at her. She was hugging herself and staring at the contents of the folder.

“I built these.”

She turned wide eyes to Tony and said “You did find them.”

She frowned and turned to Phil in confusion “But…”

Sudden horrified understanding crossed her face and she closed her eyes as she gasped out “You were fighting and Pip never saw them.”


	21. Chapter 21

Darcy’s eyes fluttered back open and she gazed wildly around herself, seeing the same horror she was feeling reflected on her brother’s faces.

She gasped out desperately “I need to… I need to-”

Bucky caught her arm as she stumbled into motion, keeping her on her feet but not hindering her.

“Let’s get you outta here, doll.” He said gently, steering her towards the elevators.

The two of them stepped into the elevator Jarvis queued and left.

Rhodey stepped towards Tony, who had started to shake and was staring at the contents of the still open folder, while Clint stepped towards Phil, whose face was blank but growing steadily whiter.

“C'mon Tones, think it’s time to call it a night. Jarvis can open this folder back up later.” Rhodey coaxed, making a subtle hand motion that got Jarvis to close the folder.

“Yeah, it’s been a long day. Lotta stuff’s gone down. No shame in stopping for now and picking things back up later.” Clint agreed, looking at Phil worriedly.

Tony stared through Rhodey for a moment before his eyes focused and he reached for Rhodey’s arm. Rhodey let him take it and started carefully guiding them towards the elevators. Phil nodded jerkily and started making his own way to the elevators with Clint at his side. The two pairs stepped onto separate elevators.

Soon the same conversation was being had in three different places.

“How could I have let this happen?” Phil asked, guilt-wracked.

“No. C'mon now, this isn’t your fault. Don’t do that to yourself.” Rhodey pleaded.

“But I’m supposed to be better than this. I should have known.”  Darcy said while crying.

“You did what you could. There was no way to know. Sometimes things just don’t work out.” Clint argued.

“When I miss something, when I don’t do what needs doing. This is my fault.” Tony  said, self-hatred filling his voice.

“Hey now. Let’s keep the blame where it belongs. On Hydra and on Stane.” Bucky said sharply.

Slowly, one by one, the children of Howard Stark fell silent and let themselves be coaxed into bed and sleep.


	22. Chapter 22

The next morning breakfast was a subdued affair. Everyone trickled in, darting worried looks at Phil’s, Tony’s, and Darcy’s wan and weary faces. Food was shared out silently, condiments requested in soft murmurs.

The meal continued in the same awkward vein until Tony pushed his plate away and asked “Can we- talk?”

Phil looked up from his meal and said “That- would probably be a good idea.”

They both looked inquiringly at Darcy, who stopped pushing her food around her plate and nodded.

The three of them shuffled into the next room and stood there awkwardly for a minute or so until Phil said bravely “I think, what I most want to say is, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you had to go through that, that you had to be scared and alone and that we didn’t, maybe couldn’t, do anything.”

“What Agent here said goes for me too.” Tony said.

Something flickered across Phil’s face and he glanced over at Tony for a moment before turning back to Darcy, who was nodding.

“That, that actually, I mean, I appreciate that.” Darcy said, then let out a weak chuckle. “I wanted you to do something so much.”

“That much was pretty clear from the folder of stuff you made.” Tony replied. “I just wish that we’d kept it together so that we actually noticed.”

Darcy nodded again, then looked back and forth between them and said “If anyone’d asked me whether you two could end up like this, I’d have said never in a million years, and I couldn’t actually figure out what exactly happened…”

“We were mourning… all three of you, but especially you.” Phil answered, remembered sorrow lowering his head.

“And I was suddenly under the pressure of having inherited the company.” Tony added, shooting a sideways glance at Phil.

“I was being recruited to Shield.” Phil continued.

“And… I think it’s a safe bet to say Ob- Stane, was manipulating us away from each other.” Tony said, looking uneasy.

“The flowers.” Phil said, with an almost questioning lilt at the end.

“The flowers.” Tony agreed firmly.

“…Flowers?” Darcy asked in confusion.

“We were both led to believe that the other had ordered a rather extravagant arrangement of orchids for your grave.” Phil told her.

“But…” Darcy protested.

“Yeah.” Tony answered.

“I don’t even like orchids!”

Darcy exclaimed. Both of her brothers nodded and Phil said “There was more than one incident like that, and emotions were running high, we finally blew up at each other a few weeks after the funeral.”

“And then didn’t speak to each other for a couple of decades. Played right into his hands.” Tony said, shaking his head.

“I don’t think, over the years, that there’s anything I’ve regretted more than the things I said to you then.” Phil said, looking at Tony with regret.

Tony stared at him, looking very young, then ducked his head and said “I wasn’t exactly nice either.”

“Yeah. But you’ve always been kind of a brat. Tinker.” Phil said, smiling a little.

Tony smiled back and Darcy made a soft sound. They both jumped and turned to her apologetically, but she smiled and said “No. This is good. If we want to get anywhere we have to- all three of us. It won’t work any other way.”

They both nodded thoughtfully.

Darcy ducked her head and then looked at them firmly and said “I want- I want to be family again. Do you think we could?”

Both men drew in sharp breaths and then Tony said “Yeah. Yeah, that’s… yeah I think we can. Can’t we?”

“Of course. If that’s what- Yes. Of course we can.” Phil answered immediately.

The three of them smiled at each other.

Then Darcy said “Okay, so we blame things on Hydra and on Stane, and we, uh, talk more. Anything else?”

“No more pretending to be dead.” Tony said firmly.

Both Darcy and Phil turned to him, surprised.

“Like, if things happened and you’re presumed dead, okay. But as soon as you get a chance, you check in.” Tony elaborated, looking unhappy.

“You were dead. You were both dead and I was the only one left and…” Tony trailed off, shaking his head.

Darcy made an understanding sound and Phil murmured “Oh Tinker…”

“No it’s fine. You had your reasons and it’s done. Just… not again okay?” Tony said.

They both nodded and Phil said firmly “Never again.”

Then Darcy laughed. The men looked at her inquiringly.

“I was going to tell you.” She told Tony, shaking her head. “After I found out about Pip I told myself if I got another chance with you I wouldn’t waste it. But then Hydra came out and I was scared.”

Tony shook his head and said “It’s okay. Forgiven. No blame for being scared.” Then he cocked his head and asked “Sounds like you wasted a chance with Pip?”

“In New Mexico.” Darcy answered. “When you gave me back my iPod, it almost looked like you recognized me.”

Phil snorted. “I spent that entire op trying to ignore how much you looked like the woman my little sister could have grown into. And when I gave you back your iPod, I came the closest to saying something.”

“I wish you had.” Darcy murmured wistfully. “I almost called after you.”

“I wish you had.” Phil answered, smiling sadly.

“I was scared.” Darcy explained.

Both men nodded and then Tony said thoughtfully “You know, I don’t think you need to be scared anymore. Pretty sure Barnes will kill anyone who tries to touch you.”

Darcy nodded and then said shyly “Yeah, and I’ve got these brothers, you know. I think if anyone tries anything they’ll make the world burn for me.”

“Damn straight.” Tony agreed.

“Anything at all.” Phil confirmed.

They smiled at each other again.

“We should probably make Barnes a new arm so he can help.” Tony said thoughtfully.

“I think we can come up with a new and improved model.” Phil agreed.

“Arc reactor as the power source instead of those godawful nuclear batteries?” Darcy asked brightly as they started to turn towards the kitchen.

“Hell yeah! And we can use it to power lasers for his fingers.” Tony agreed excitedly.

“I’m not so sure he’d go for that.” Darcy said, laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a partly finished updated/revamped/expanded draft sitting around that I may someday manage to polish up and post, but this one is pretty good too.


End file.
